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Many friends have squeed about how good this musical/movie was, so against all that is tasteful I rented the DVD.
Last things first: I suspect that Piers Brosnan has the makings of a beautiful baritone singing voice. Giving him a tenor part and telling him to just belt it out on his first two numbers was criminal. Especially after giving Colin Firth a lovely song which is perfect for his voice. And yeah, he could have used a singing coach.
Except for Firth, and the beautiful tones of Amanda Seyfried, who played her part way too young, none of the singing in the movie was any good. Meryl Streep almost held her own, but it is obvious musicality was not at the top of the producers'/director's list of priorities. Box office was. Also, Streep is a good 20 years too old for her part. The script calls for a teen mom whose daughter is now 20. The movie showed a teen daughter whose mom is 50. Which is something of a compliment, since Meryl was almost 60 when the movie was shot.
Fitting the songs into the context was not always successful, but the movie moves along at such a fast clip that we're usually into the next scene before we can say WTF.
Much of the cinematography is superb, though night scenes were poorly color balanced and under-lit. Audio was mostly good, but there were many out-of-sync dubbing moments.
But enough about The Bad. I loved the movie as a whole. It is obvious the entire cast, including the village, had one hell of a party making this film. I wish I'd been there. The surprise ending was really only half a surprise, and only half an ending.
I was disappointed there were no easter eggs or bloopers on the DVD. There must have been a ton of LOL moments during the shooting. I had a WTF moment at the end of the credits when they played Amanda singing Thank You For The Music, a song I first heard so long ago I was sure it was written before the members of ABBA were born. But according to the final credits, they did write it. I have a 1981 recording of then child star Lea Salonga singing it.
Worth Netflix. Definitely not worth theater price. With a more musical cast who fit their roles, and solid directing, this could be a killer live show.
Last things first: I suspect that Piers Brosnan has the makings of a beautiful baritone singing voice. Giving him a tenor part and telling him to just belt it out on his first two numbers was criminal. Especially after giving Colin Firth a lovely song which is perfect for his voice. And yeah, he could have used a singing coach.
Except for Firth, and the beautiful tones of Amanda Seyfried, who played her part way too young, none of the singing in the movie was any good. Meryl Streep almost held her own, but it is obvious musicality was not at the top of the producers'/director's list of priorities. Box office was. Also, Streep is a good 20 years too old for her part. The script calls for a teen mom whose daughter is now 20. The movie showed a teen daughter whose mom is 50. Which is something of a compliment, since Meryl was almost 60 when the movie was shot.
Fitting the songs into the context was not always successful, but the movie moves along at such a fast clip that we're usually into the next scene before we can say WTF.
Much of the cinematography is superb, though night scenes were poorly color balanced and under-lit. Audio was mostly good, but there were many out-of-sync dubbing moments.
But enough about The Bad. I loved the movie as a whole. It is obvious the entire cast, including the village, had one hell of a party making this film. I wish I'd been there. The surprise ending was really only half a surprise, and only half an ending.
I was disappointed there were no easter eggs or bloopers on the DVD. There must have been a ton of LOL moments during the shooting. I had a WTF moment at the end of the credits when they played Amanda singing Thank You For The Music, a song I first heard so long ago I was sure it was written before the members of ABBA were born. But according to the final credits, they did write it. I have a 1981 recording of then child star Lea Salonga singing it.
Worth Netflix. Definitely not worth theater price. With a more musical cast who fit their roles, and solid directing, this could be a killer live show.
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